Updated: More doubts on defense for Bruins

The finish will earn the Bruins third or fourth place in the Atlantic Division, pending Toronto’s results tonight against Pittsburgh and Sunday against Columbus. The Leafs entered the weekend 39-26-15 = 93. Tie goes to the Bruins, who have more hockey-play wins (ROW’s).

Should Toronto not gain the two points against Pittsburgh that would clinch the Leafs a spot in the playoffs, the Islanders and Lightning entered the weekend with a potential for 94-point finishes. Then it gets dicey for Toronto. The Leafs need 3 of the potential 4 points this weekend to surpass the Bruins and get into the Ottawa matchup, leaving the Bruins with Washington.

POSTGAME

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy would not offer a preference on Boston’s opening-round playoff opponent, but he did not hesitate to pronounce the Capitals as superior to the Senators, while offering the latter due respect.

“We’re going to be confident no matter who we play,” he said. “In a nutshell, Washington is the better team. I would say that, go on record saying that. … Ottawa’s playing very good hockey right now. We’ve had a tough time with them. They both present their challenges.

“Staying in probably the Eastern Conference … is probably the easier path. You don’t want to be the Wild Card (team), but … it’s out of our hands. We get what we get.”

Cassidy had no idea before the game that Khudobin was ill.

The Bruins will take Sunday off and reconvene on Monday with a certain playoff opponent and series schedule.

“We’ve started preparation for who we might play, and we’ll incorporate that in practice Monday,” said Cassidy. “It’ll be a fairly quick turnaround from what I understand no matter who we play. We’ll just work on our game, the things that we need to get better at. Plus, how does that translate to the opponent we’re playing? Now it gets a little more specific, obviously.

“During the year you just practice, stay sharp, correct, but I still think there’s some D-zone coverage stuffed that we corrected as the game went on, protecting the slot, that no matter who we play we’ll need to be better at. So that’ll be one of the areas we’ll look at.”

The team, once its opponent is known, we’ll incorporate specifics including zone entries, powerplay and penalty-kill strategies, “and we’ll get on the road.”

Cassidy went easy on left winger Frank Vatrano, who is coming off of injury absence, for the line change that opened the 3-on-2 that led to Washington’s first goal. Changing, he said, makes sense from the attacking zone so especially as to avoid fatigued in the defensive zone.

Only problem was the timing. Vatrano turned his back on the action, which had reversed with his linemates trapped deep in Washington territory. Ryan Spooner had no shot at catching up on the backcheck (something No. 51 would overcompensate for later in the game), and the Caps worked a pretty relay once Marcus Johansson had gotten on the wrong side of Brandon Carlo. The rookie defenseman had too tight a gap with Boston’s forwards and Zdeno Chara was caught trying to keep Justin Williams wide on the right wing and, within a split second, trying to keep Williams’ pass from getting through to a place (Johansson) that Carlo presumably had covered.

Now Carlo joins the ranks of the unknown after getting his head unintentionally smacked against the corner glass by Alex Ovechkin.

It’s at about this time that the strange and quiet disappearance of Joe Morrow comes back to haunt the Bruins. Morrow, once the future jewel of the Tyler Seguin trade, last saw action when Claude Julien was coach. It seems certain his days with the organization are numbered as he heads toward restricted free agency. It’s befuddling that the Bruins could or would not include him in a deadline trade, but he’s still in Boston with a once-promising career stuck in limbo.

The Bruins could dearly use reinforcement at this time, especially with Torey Krug’s status unknown following his quick departure from Thursday night’s game against Ottawa. A video replay of his injury showed his right leg swing back hard against the kickplate, his right skate bending backward and putting his right Achilles tendon in a vulnerable position. If it results in a rupture, then it’s been the Bruins’ practice to make official announcement of season-ending injuries, so no news is good news on the Krug front. That said, even an incremental strain poses grave concern should he try to skate and play in a compromised state.

The bright spot for the Bruins has been John-Michael Liles, who has stepped into the lineup after a lengthy absence of healthy scratches and given them exactly what they had bargained for a year ago – stability on the breakout and in coverage.

Colin Miller, who had an eventful game, is a skilled player and an entertaining one. Until Krug’s injury, his spot in the lineup had been taken over by Liles. Now the Bruins may be looking at a scenario where both are in the lineup along with another player to replace Carlo.

The obvious question is could we see Charlie McAvoy sooner than expected? But Providence has been seasoning defensemen for scenarios like this one all winter, including 23-year-olds Matt Grzelcyk and Robbie O’Gara. They both shoot left and play left side, and are easily the most ready to be the bandaid the Bruins need. All GM Don Sweeney needs to do which widget the team needs more.

THIRD PERIOD

Tuukka Rask in net for Boston. Khudobin was “not feeling well” according to Bruins media relations.

The period plays out like a preseason game.

Backes throws a hit on Williams.

SECOND PERIOD

Brandon Carlo will not return.

Colin Miller was abused along the sideboards by Jay Beagle, who finished against a fallen Miller’s head. A scrum ensued, Bruins got a powerplay out of it that produced nothing except some groans from the Garden faithful.

It began when Miller lined up Tom Wilson from across the ice, his low-bridge hip-check position unable to connect effectively when Wilson pulled up skating backwards with the puck (facing his own end of the rink). Miller got a piece of Wilson’s leg with his own. With Miller prone, on his knees and facing the sideboards, Beagle came in and ran Miller’s head into the dasher. David Backes ran into the fray and fell over both of them, and Wilson jumped atop Backes with a series of rabbit crosschecks to keep the big guy down and out of harm’s way. Backes got a roughing minor, Wilson got slashing for his stick swing at Miller, and Beagle got crosschecking for a rub-out that deserves a call from the league’s dept. of player safety.

Colin Miller, of all players, tied the game with 4:47 remaining in the second period. Brooks Orpik knocked Drew Stafford, who had originally taken the puck to the net, into the right post a fraction of a second before Miller’s rebound crossed the goal line. There was a short delay for video review, but the call on the ice stood.

Kevin Shattenkirk shattered any ideas of a momentum switch with a nice goal less than a minute later (3:51 remaining). Niklas Backstrom set him up from the left corner and the newly acquired defenseman pinched to the slot for a one-timer snap that beat Khudobin high glove. 2-1 Caps.

Shattenkirk worked together with Johansson and Kuznetsov to produce a killer of a goal with 2:29 left in the period, but the Bruins challenged for goalie interference on Williams and the goal call was overturned and the game remained 2-1 Washington until the final minute when Kuznetsov relayed across the slot to Williams for his 24th, a roofer at 19:10.

Brandon Carlo held too tight a gap and got beat on the turnback by Johansson, who moved the puck RW to Williams. Zdeno Chara was forced to reach for Williams pass, didn’t get it, and Johansson had the time and the room to pull it around Anton Khudobin. Evgeny Kuznetsov was the other forward among the three.

Kevan Miller stepped up to hit Andre Burakovsky, who was avenged a couple of minutes later by Tom Wilson. Refreshingly, Wilson plastered Miller against the end boards rather than challenge him to a fight.

[Rink Rap: Not that fighting should be banned from hockey - it serves its purpose in my opinion. But the response-to-a-hard-but-legal-hit fight has become the new "staged" fight that the game needs to eradicate.]

Brandon Carlo got shaken up on a weird collision with Alex Ovechkin with 6:53 remaining in the first period. It looked like Carlo’s right skate went out from under him as he was stopping from a hard skate to the Zamboni doors. Ovechkin pulled up but wound up getting Carlo’s head against the glass with his arms. Down on his knees in pain, Carlo received assistance from trainer Don Del Negro and left the game.

Matt Beleskey went out for crosschecking down Jay Beagle at 15:10.

Bruins get the kill, but head into first intermission down 1-0 and possibly down another defenseman.

The Capitals, who have already clinched the Presidents Trophy, have one more game on Sunday. The Bruins will spend Sunday awaiting their playoff matchup, unless they win today (including shootout), which would clinch a matchup against the Ottawa Senators for the first time in the latter’s present incarnation and for the first time overall since 1927. A series against the Sens would start in Ottawa, most likely on Thursday.

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Blog Author

Mick Colageo

Mick Colageo grew up in East Walpole, Mass., skating on Coburn's Pond and at 4 Seasons Arena. He has been writing about hockey since 1986 and covering the Bruins since 1991, is a voting member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and ... Read Full